looking for reviews of the Honolulu to Sydney Cruises

[ladyofthetramp]

@ladyofthetramp - So serious about the whales. Whales and humans love Hawaii in the winter. It also bumps up hotel prices (for the humans).

“What is the best month to see whales in Hawaii?

Humpback whales begin arriving in Hawaii mid fall, with successful whale watching increasing as the season progresses. By mid-December, daily sightings are common. The peak population of whales occurs around mid-February, making mid-February to mid-March the prime time for observing their behavior. Jul 8, 2024” - Wild Side Hawaii

Maui is considered prime viewing, but the entire island chain should have good viewing options. We have done whale watches from Lahaina / Maui. And had a wonderful view of a breach close to our little outrigger canoe there. The guides were quite shocked. Maybe everyone will see some while onboard the Wonder.

We saw the East Coast whales off Provincetown, MA. I would love to see them in their winter home off Dominican Republic. That would complete the East and West Coast viewings.

Alaska cruises and Hawaii vacations are my Happy Place memories. Not any place Disney. Just reading that others are going to Hawaii puts a smile on my face and makes me reminisce. Hope it has a similar effect on you and others cruising there.

…Love your photographs.

Thank you @auntlynne We saw whales in Alaska on our DCL cruise-luckily from the ship. Alaska holds a place in my heart. So much beauty. I would love to visit again. It would be wonderful to see whales in Hawaii. Then it would complete 3 out of the 4 places to visit whales for us also. Provincetown is a prime location for whales in the summer here with Stellwagon Bank National Marine Sanctuary being right there. I am so blessed to be near to the coast that I can go visit every year or more often if I wanted to. Whales are beautiful mammals. They are magical to see.

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[ladyofthetramp]

Whatever floats his boat. There are definitely people who live here who wear shorts all year round. At 5C/40F I'll be home warming up because chances are it will also be raining and feel way colder than that (but I'll cross my fingers for a dry February for ya

oh that Tramp! One snowy day he dashed to the curb in shorts, a t shirt, a tall snow boots as we had over a foot of snow in the yard. It was a sight! I agree- 40F feels so cold and damp when it is raining. I'll take Vancouver anytime. We had such fun there our last trip. Great city to visit, looking forward to getting back there

 

[KDG]

Noumea: I think to get the most out of your time onshore, I’d recommend taking the Lyvai Green Train tour. This tour takes you through quite a bit of the city on a very pleasant little train. It departs from the visitors center (take the ship’s shuttle bus there). You can purchase advance tickets from their website or purchase them right at the center. This train tour is DIFFERENT than the DCL excursion offering. I think that train is blue (?) but it costs quite a bit more.

One of the nice advantages of taking the Green Train is that it leaves and returns from the port visitor center so it is easily accessible to shops, grocery stores, restrooms and parks in that area of town. We had plenty of time to shop and explore Noumea after our tour (which took about 2 hours).

There was also a nice craft fair going on while we were in port on the covered rooftop of the visitor center.

To return to the ship, just hop on the shuttle bus which runs continuously about every 10 minutes.

Our fellow travelers who booked DCL excursions were returned directly to the ship and they did not have the opportunity to wander around the city for shopping or eating. We found a nice grocery store for Noumea snacks and treats right across the street from the visitor center and a lovely gift shop with quality items about a block away.

Noumea was more upscale than the ports we visited in Pago Pago and Suva. But we felt fortunate to have visited all three islands on our wonderful cruise.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Looking at the itinerary from Honolulu to Sydney, it seems when the ship docks at Sydney, passengers get an”bonus” day on the ship and don’t leave exit for 26 hours? I haven’t seen anything scheduled like this ever, although I’ve been on a repositioning cruise that arrived at its destination a day early (and allowed people to leave if they desired). Or am I not reading this correctly? Doesn’t look like the cruise did this last year.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Also… for those who took the cruise, did you have to get an Australian visa?

 

[ironz]

US citizens need to get a visa to visit Australia. There is an app called Australian ETA. It was about $15 ish. (not remembering if that is in AUD or USD).
I am 99% certain that Canadian citizens also do the Australian ETA visa.
Adding-- DCL is not going to hold your hand and do this for you. Our social media group was very confused about it, and people saying they weren't going to do it until DCL told them, etc. DCL will just say to check the travel requirements.

 

[ironz]

Looking at the itinerary from Honolulu to Sydney, it seems when the ship docks at Sydney, passengers get an”bonus” day on the ship and don’t leave exit for 26 hours? I haven’t seen anything scheduled like this ever, although I’ve been on a repositioning cruise that arrived at its destination a day early (and allowed people to leave if they desired). Or am I not reading this correctly? Doesn’t look like the cruise did this last year.

Oh, wow-- this is a nicer itinerary than last year. It has 2 extra nights, including the stop in Hawaii, and the overnight in Sydney. I would have loved that! Last year, we docked in Sydney (not even at the dock by the Harbour Bridge), and disembarked. That afternoon, the ship moved over to the Harbour area to re-dock, and did a promo evening outing with the cruise execs, Australian officials/media, etc. Then it sailed out of Sydney Harbour the next day.

 

[KDG]

Yes on the Australian visa. It just takes a few minutes online to get one. Passengers who hadn’t applied for this visa were shuttled to a different check in area in Honolulu to do this before they could board.

When we docked in Sydney, we disembarked at the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Everyone had to disembark. Later that day, Disney boarded dignitaries, media, and local celebrities for a “DCL Welcome to Sydney” cruise around the Sydney Harbor. We were able to watch this from our hotel room. Then they docked the Wonder at the Overseas Terminal overnight. This terminal is across from the Opera House and next to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The next day, passengers boarded there for the first Australian Magic at Sea cruise.

Maybe this is the case for the cruise you are referring to. They might need the extra night in port to restock food, merchandise, do a thorough cleaning and be inspected by harbor authorities.

 

[ironz]

Yes on the Australian visa. It just takes a few minutes online to get one. Passengers who hadn’t applied for this visa were shuttled to a different check in area in Honolulu to do this before they could board.

Oh, I was curious what happened to the people who didn't do it ahead of time! There were some people on another group who were very adamant about not doing it without DCL expressly telling them. (would have been very awkward to be denied entry at that point)

 

[ironz]

The 2024 sailing does have what looks like a legit passenger overnight in Sydney, with the aboard times matching what they did with overnights on different cruises we've been on (Kauai, Bermuda).

 

[KDG]

There was a nice woman and daughter just ahead of us in the line waiting to check-in and board in Honolulu who had never cruised before. We were telling the daughter about the kids clubs and she was excited to learn about them. They lived in Honolulu and I guess mom thought since she had paid for the cruise, they just got on! She kept saying “I have paid in full” and was searching her phone for that confirmation.

She didn’t have the online check-in, Australian visa, boarding group time, health questionnaire or anything else completed. A cast member escorted the pair to a separate check-in kiosk where they set to work helping her complete everything.

They were so late getting aboard, they were holding up the muster drill and a cast member was calling their stateroom number again and again over the intercom. Eventually, they made it to their muster station and we were released from the drill.

We did see them many times during the cruise and they were having a great time and they were lovely gals, so I’m glad everything turned out well. The daughter enjoyed the club and found a friend to hang around with.

The lesson: do your research and complete those forms! I wonder how often this happens with all the cruise ships traveling the globe?

 

[auntlynne]

Looking at the itinerary from Honolulu to Sydney, it seems when the ship docks at Sydney, passengers get an”bonus” day on the ship and don’t leave exit for 26 hours? I haven’t seen anything scheduled like this ever, although I’ve been on a repositioning cruise that arrived at its destination a day early (and allowed people to leave if they desired). Or am I not reading this correctly? Doesn’t look like the cruise did this last year.

We had this on an EBTA. Overnight in Barcelona, then final disembarkation the following day. Did the same on NCL in Quebec this past Fall. These were the scheduled itinerary.

Am I reading the situation you encountered was that the ship actually arrived before schedule? How did that happen?

I don’t know if guests on my cruises were allowed to complete disembarkation early. Never even considered that as an option. But I did B2B in both cases.

 

[LAS2AMS]

We had this on an EBTA. Overnight in Barcelona, then final disembarkation the following day. Did the same on NCL in Quebec this past Fall. These were the scheduled itinerary.

Am I reading the situation you encountered was that the ship actually arrived before schedule? How did that happen?

I don’t know if guests on my cruises were allowed to complete disembarkation early. Never even considered that as an option. But I did B2B in both cases.

I’ve never seen an itinerary in which the ship arrived into its embarkation port a day early and treated it as a port day. I have been on a pair of cruises that arrived into its embarkation port a day early — one was coming off a month long voyage and arrived at 4PM when it was due at 8AM the next day, the other was coming from Hawaii and skipped Ensenada due to weather and arrived over a day early. You could leave the ship early but it was an extended embarkation - once you left there was no coming back (until your next cruise of course).

Pretty cool to see this!

 

[LAS2AMS]

Yes on the Australian visa. It just takes a few minutes online to get one. Passengers who hadn’t applied for this visa were shuttled to a different check in area in Honolulu to do this before they could board.

When we docked in Sydney, we disembarked at the White Bay Cruise Terminal. Everyone had to disembark. Later that day, Disney boarded dignitaries, media, and local celebrities for a “DCL Welcome to Sydney” cruise around the Sydney Harbor. We were able to watch this from our hotel room. Then they docked the Wonder at the Overseas Terminal overnight. This terminal is across from the Opera House and next to the Sydney Harbor Bridge. The next day, passengers boarded there for the first Australian Magic at Sea cruise.

Maybe this is the case for the cruise you are referring to. They might need the extra night in port to restock food, merchandise, do a thorough cleaning and be inspected by harbor authorities.

Interestingly enough… it looks like this cruise arrives into Sydney on October 18th and treats it as a port day for passengers onboard. They embark on the 19th but the ship remains in Sydney until it departs the next day.

I’ll make an educated guess that Disney is receiving a subsidy for these cruises (as Australia is known to do).

 

[wendlle]

for those that did this cruise, how many opportunities were there for Palo Brunch?
I'm silver and have never been able to get a reservation for Brunch and really want to do it. Dinner i've done and don't want to do again as we like to eat with the kids because they're in the club all day it's the only time we get to see them LOL

I'm determined to get Brunch on this cruise!

 

[choomTOP]

for those that did this cruise, how many opportunities were there for Palo Brunch?
I'm silver and have never been able to get a reservation for Brunch and really want to do it. Dinner i've done and don't want to do again as we like to eat with the kids because they're in the club all day it's the only time we get to see them LOL

I'm determined to get Brunch on this cruise!

There are plenty of sea days so lots of chances! There was one port where we didn't dock until noon and I think they had brunch available that day as well.

The only catch is that the higher Castaway Club tiers get a Palo meal included as one of their perks and many of those guests seem to prefer brunch. So for us, being silver, we weren't able to get a brunch reservation the day reservations opened up for us because Pearl, Platinum, and Gold had taken them all. Then again, this was an inaugural cruise that had technically sold out before silver could even book (I had to wait for the holds to be released before I could book anything), so there may have been a higher-than-normal amount of those tiers.

But don't worry if you can't book it right away -- there's still a good chance to get a brunch! People will cancel once they have a better idea of their plans. Disney could open up more spots. You could also get on the waitlist when you first get on the ship. If you're in an online group for your sailing, people might give a heads up when they decide to cancel and you can jump on it.

Overall, I'm pretty sure anyone who wanted brunch was able to get it, provided you aren't too picky about when.

 

[auntlynne]

for those that did this cruise, how many opportunities were there for Palo Brunch?
I'm silver and have never been able to get a reservation for Brunch and really want to do it. Dinner i've done and don't want to do again as we like to eat with the kids because they're in the club all day it's the only time we get to see them LOL

I'm determined to get Brunch on this cruise!

Do they still allow groups to book the side room? Our forum group had brunch on the Magic - many years ago - in a Med cruise.

I have been in a few FB cruise groups, but never thought to mention that (nor saw it being coordinated).

 

[wendlle]

There are plenty of sea days so lots of chances! There was one port where we didn't dock until noon and I think they had brunch available that day as well.

The only catch is that the higher Castaway Club tiers get a Palo meal included as one of their perks and many of those guests seem to prefer brunch. So for us, being silver, we weren't able to get a brunch reservation the day reservations opened up for us because Pearl, Platinum, and Gold had taken them all. Then again, this was an inaugural cruise that had technically sold out before silver could even book (I had to wait for the holds to be released before I could book anything), so there may have been a higher-than-normal amount of those tiers.

But don't worry if you can't book it right away -- there's still a good chance to get a brunch! People will cancel once they have a better idea of their plans. Disney could open up more spots. You could also get on the waitlist when you first get on the ship. If you're in an online group for your sailing, people might give a heads up when they decide to cancel and you can jump on it.

Overall, I'm pretty sure anyone who wanted brunch was able to get it, provided you aren't too picky about when.

This is good to know, yes as Silver I've always been able to get dinner but never brunch.
If we aren't able before the cruise we will get onboard and try at guest services.